Tough comeback
Senior Travis Riefenstahl returns from injury early
Travis Riefenstahl sat on a bench inside Hershey’s Giant earlier this month with a large ice pack resting on his tired right shoulder.
The Saucon Valley senior did plenty of sitting after surgery in mid-December. It was projected that he would miss all of wrestling season.
Riefenstahl had another schedule in mind.
“They said I’d be able to come back at the end of March,” he said. “But I just worked as hard as I could every day, and the doctor was nice enough to let me wrestle.
“When they took my pulse, it was through the roof because I was so nervous about what the doctor was going to say.”
Riefenstahl was cleared just ahead of the District 11 Team Wrestling Championships. He won six of eight matches in the Panthers’ run to another top-8 finish at the state Class 2A team event.
His shoulder was fatigued during and after matches, but he was not going to let that prevent him from competing.
“It’s never been better,” Riefenstahl said. “It feels better than the old shoulder. It obviously was a little weak.
“I’m just happy to have opportunity to be on the mat again.
Riefenstahl’s toughness caused the injury.
The Panthers defensive back was hurt during a tackling drill at a football practice leading up to Week 9 of the regular season.
He was the team’s starting quarterback, and quarterbacks are usually off limits in full-contact drills. But Riefenstahl loves the game so much that he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
He dreamt of being Saucon Valley’s starting quarterback since he was in elementary school, and now the injury threatened to cut short his senior season.
“I’ve had shoulder issues in the past but nothing major,” Riefenstahl said. “It was pretty painful. The first thing I said was that I just wanted to know if I could play that Friday. The doctor told me I tore something in my shoulder. It wasn’t good.”
The senior missed that week’s game against Lehighton because he couldn’t lift his right arm. He was able to lift it with limited mobility the next week, so he played defense in the regular-season finale against rival Palisades.
Riefenstahl’s range of motion improved so he played both ways in the District 11 Class 3A playoff game against Notre Dame-GP, then had surgery the following week.
Rest and rehabilitation followed. The 145-pounder was motivated by his love of wrestling but also driven by the way his junior season ended. He was bumped out of the postseason lineup when three-time state champion Ryan Crookham returned from injuries.
Riefenstahl wasn’t going to let anything stop him this season.
“You could preach it all you want about taking advantage of all the opportunities, cherishing the moments and not taking anything for granted until something’s taken away from you,” Saucon Valley coach Chad Shirk said. “With Travis, we had to do everything in our power to make sure that he slowed down a little bit. He wanted to get back with the team.
“His energy is crazy. He’s such a great teammate. Last year when he couldn’t wrestle, he was our No. 1 cheerleader on the team, so to speak. He bleeds black and red. It’s neat to see him get back out there and compete.”
Riefenstahl registered a 30-second pin in his first match back in the District 11 Class 2A team quarterfinals against Blue Mountain and won again a couple hours later in the semis by technical fall.
He lost in the PIAA preliminary round and spent a couple minutes flat on the mat because his shoulder was so fatigued, but he returned to the lineup three days later in Hershey to help the defending state-champion Panthers win three matches there before coming up just short of a medal.
“It was awesome,” he said of the experience. “My record is terrible in the Giant Center, and I was pretty nervous that first day in Hershey. I don’t usually get nervous before wrestling matches, only football games.
“But something was different. It was just good to be out there.”
Riefenstahl is a two-time district medalist and finished fifth as a freshman at regionals. He is looking forward to enjoying his last individual postseason with teammates and perhaps returning to Hershey one more time in March.
Regardless of when, Riefenstahl’s wrestling career will end on a mat, not in a doctor’s office.
“It would have been pretty hard not having him wrestle in Hershey,” Shirk said.